Due
to the forceful advancement of the Japanese military, General Douglas MacArthur
was forced to withdraw from the Philippines. A veteran officer during World War
I, McArthur became the Philippine government’s defense advisor. After being
viewed by Japan as a leader of resistance, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered
MacArthur to fly to Australia with the fear of him being captured as a prisoner
of war. After a series of almost encountering a Japanese battleship in the
Philippine seas, McArthur had finally reached Australia on March 21, 1942
declaring that he ‘shall return’.
